Nothing Lasts Forever
by 23a
Summary: Before Harry Potter's story, there was another story. A story of four mischievous best friends and their redheaded classmate, whose lives would impact each others' in ways they could not predict. From their adventure-filled last few years at school through the war that would consume their lives, their story is one of love and loss, courage and betrayal, friendship and family.
1. The Story Begins

_September 1, 1975, 10:45 am_

James Potter grinned and walked onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters, his parents right behind him. Looking around, he quickly caught sight of his best friend, Sirius Black. "Sirius!" he exclaimed joyfully.

Sirius ran up to him. "James!"

"Honestly, you two just saw each other last week," Euphemia Potter said with a sigh, shaking her head.

"A week was too long," said James. "Love you Mum, love you Dad."

"We love you too," said Fleamont.

James and Sirius ran off to find their other two best friends, and nearly bumped into a girl with flaming red hair. "Lily!" James said with a smile, but she ignored him and walked off. "Wow, she ignored me even more than usual," James said with a frown. What about him was so unappealing to Lily? What would make her pay attention to him?

"You're an arse, James Potter," said Marlene McKinnon, standing a few feet away.

"What, for talking to Lily?"

She frowned. "I suppose you don't know."

"Know what?"

"None of your business." She went off after Lily.

"James! Sirius!" called their friend Peter Pettigrew from where he stood with his mother.

Smiling, they went over to him. "Hey, Peter," said Sirius.

"Hi, Mrs. Pettigrew," James said with a smile.

"Hello, dears. Would you like some toffee?" She pulled some out of her purse.

"Sure," said James, at the same time as Sirius said, "No thanks."

The three continued walking. "So, where's Mr. Prefect?" asked Peter.

"No idea. He can't even sit with us on the train this year," said Sirius. "How annoying is that?"

They didn't have to wait long for their other best friend; Remus Lupin stood not far away on the platform.

"Remus!" Peter called, and he turned to them with a smile.

"Hey guys."

"So, you're a hotshot prefect now," said James. He was surprised any of the Mauraders had become prefect; they were known for pulling pranks. But Dumbledore also knew that Remus was the most responsible person in their group; maybe he had figured that Remus could keep the others in check. He underestimated James.

"Suppose I am," Remus said.

"You better not go turning us in," Sirius said with a wink, pretending that Remus's father was not right there.

"I'd be turning myself in, so I don't think you have to worry there."

"So, everyone excited for another year of Hogwarts?" Mr. Lupin asked, evidently long past resigned to the fact that his son was part of a group of pranksters-the greatest in Hogwarts history, of course.

"Sure," said Sirius. "'Cept for those exams we have to take at the end."

"Well, I'd better get going to work. You have a good year, Remus. Behave yourself."

"I will, Dad."

"I love you, son."

"Love you too."

They all walked towards the train.

"So, Moony, how was your summer?" James asked.

"Fine. How about yours?"

"Also fine."

"Where's your mum?" Peter asked.

"Oh, she's a little sick, so she stayed home. She never really likes coming to the platform anyway, says she can feel everyone staring at her cause she's a Muggle."

"That's not true," said Sirius.

"Just quoting her," Remus said.

"Do you by any chance know what's up with Lily?" James asked.

"Why would I know?"

"Cause she's your co-prefect?"

"I don't really know what you mean. Why do you think something's up?"

"She ignored me."

"She always ignores you."

"And Marlene said I was being an arse and then said there was something I didn't know."

"Well, maybe something is up."

"Anyway," said Sirius, "Speaking of Marlene, I'm thinking about asking her out."

"Careful," said Remus.

"I will be!"

"Yes, because you have such a reputation for it."

"Hey, look," said James, directing their attention across the platform. "It's Snivellus." He hated Severus Snape with a passion; they were always jinxing each other in the hallways when they thought that teachers wouldn't notice.

They all snorted and looked away.

"What a git," Sirius said.

They walked onto the train, found an empty compartment, and sat down, Remus heading to the prefect car. This was going to be quite a year at Hogwarts.


	2. The Story Begins (Again)

_September 1, 1975, 9:00 am_

"Come on, Petunia," Lily pleaded.

"No! For the last time, Lily, I don't feel like going to King's Cross Station to see you off. And I'm an adult now, so I don't have to."

"I know you don't have to, Tuney. I just want you to." She hadn't used the nickname in a while, but now seemed like a good occasion to do so. She knew her sister didn't like it when she acted clingy, but she needed her. It had been the worst summer of Lily's life; her father had died at the beginning of July of a sudden heart attack. And instead of bringing her and Petunia closer together, it had only driven them further apart. The only semi-good thing that had happened this summer was Lily finding out that she had become a prefect, but the effect was rather dulled what with everything else that had been going on. Her mother had acted pleased, but she had been distracted and out of it ever since their father's death. And Petunia had only scoffed at the news. Lily longed for the days when they had been close, when they had played together as innocent children. Then the news that she was a witch had ruined all of that. She loved Hogwarts, loved her friends there and her magical life, but she missed her sister.

"Sorry, I'm busy," Petunia replied, and Lily turned around and started to walk away so that her sister wouldn't see her crying. She headed upstairs and made sure all of her things were packed.

"Are you ready to go, dear?" her mother asked.

"Yes, Mum, I'm ready. Petunia isn't coming, though." She choked back a sob; this was ridiculous, she hated crying. Yet she had been doing a lot of it this summer.

"I'll go talk to her," Mrs. Evans said.

"Don't bother. She's made up her mind."

Mrs. Evans sighed. "Well, I suppose we'd better head into London, then."

"Yeah."

Together, she and her mother carried her large trunk down the the car and stashed it in the trunk. Her father used to carry the whole trunk by himself; Lily tried not to think about that.

* * *

When they arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, her mother distinctly less fascinated by all the magic this year than in previous years, Lily gave her a hug goodbye and began walking down the platform looking for her friends. Instead, she bumped into the two people she _least_ wanted to see right now; James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Lily!" James exclaimed with a smile.

Without a word, she kept walking. She didn't have the energy to deal with him right now. Even the good news of her being prefect had come with some slight bad news; her co-prefect was Remus Lupin, a close friend of James and Sirius, both of whom she could not stand. Remus was certainly more responsible than his best friends, and honestly probably the best choice to be prefect. But she didn't want to be working closely with someone who was so close to James; he'd probably find some way to use that to make a move on her. She knew he had fancied her since third year, but she did not feel the same way.

"Lily!" said a more welcome voice, walking up behind her.

She turned around to see Marlene McKinnon. "Marlene. It's good to see you."

Immediately, her friend gave her a hug, and she returned it. "How are you?" Marlene asked, her voice full of concern.

"I'm alright," Lily replied. She was lying, to an extent, but she didn't feel like talking about any of her problems at the moment. "Come on, let's go find Mary."

They continued walking until they found Mary MacDonald, their other close friend.

"Lily!" she said, also giving her a hug, and Lily smiled but really wished they would just act normally. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

They walked onto the train and Lily bid her friends farewell to head over to the prefect car.

* * *

When she got to the prefect car, just about everyone was already there; Remus Lupin arrived just after her, sitting beside her with a slight smile.

"Alright," said the Head Boy. "Our job is to patrol the corridors and ensure that nobody is misbehaving. New prefects have to take the first shift."

Lily sighed.

"Prefects will be patrolling with their fellow house prefect for now; because you're new, we don't want you on your own just yet."

Even better, Lily thought as she stood up. Not only was she going to have to spend hours walking up and down this train, she was going to have to do it with Remus, someone who she didn't know all that well and who was best friends with people she couldn't stand.

This was shaping up to be a wonderful year at Hogwarts.


	3. Welcome to Hogwarts

_September 1, 1975, 11:15 am_

Remus looked over at Lily as they patrolled the train. She appeared to be distracted. "So, how was your summer?" he asked, in an attempt to make friendly conversation.

She looked at him for the first time, and he realized that she looked sad. "Could have been better. Yours?"

"It was alright," he said. The awkward silence returned. He never really spoke to Lily; James was always trying to get her attention, to no avail, but he generally picked Sirius as his wingman, probably because he was distinctly more charismatic than Remus, and certainly more than Peter, who was nice enough but lacked a certain charm. "I just want to say, if this is going to be awkward because of James, I'm sorry that he keeps going after you."

She looked surprised. "Didn't think I'd hear that." She sighed. "It is very annoying."

"Yeah, he can be pushy," Remus agreed. Unfortunately, that was really the only side Lily saw. James was also caring, and stuck up for people like him, and was a great friend. They were all great friends; they had become Animagi for him. And though James was a bit arrogant, it wasn't because of his wealth, but because of his talent, and he was rather modest about his money.

"That's one word for it," Lily said. "I don't see why you're friends with him."

"He's nice once you really get to know him."

"He's mean to Severus."

"To be fair, Lily, Severus isn't nice to him either. Not saying what he does is right... but it's a pretty even match."

"Hmm."

"But anyway, the point of this was to apologize; I hope the issue doesn't affect our prefect work."

"I can be professional," Lily said.

"Well. That's good." He admired Lily's coolness and conviction; he was not attracted to her, but could see what James saw in her. Part of him almost hoped they did end up together; she would be able to balance out his recklessness with a level head. They walked on for a while longer in silence before another pair of prefects took over their shift.

* * *

At the feast, Remus sat with James, Sirius, and Peter, glad to be back with them after being separated for almost an entire day.

"Did Lily mention me?" James asked through a mouthful of potatoes.

"No," he lied. He didn't see the need to hurt James by telling him the rather offensive things Lily had said about him. "We didn't really speak much."

"Did you find out any of what might be wrong with her?"

"No," he said, but decided to tell the truth here. "She seemed kind of sad, though."

James frowned. "Oh." He made it seem like all he felt for Lily was superficial attraction, but Remus knew he really did care about her. A lot.

"Sirius asked Marlene Mckinnon out," Peter said.

"Oh?" Remus raised his eyebrows. "How'd that go?"

Sirius shrugged, then looked down at his food. "She rejected me."

"What? Girls almost never reject you."

"Yeah, well, she's Lily's best friend. Solidarity and all that."

"You'll win her over," said James.

"Oh, like you won Lily over?" Peter asked.

Remus couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Well-I-shut up, Wormtail."

They all turned to the front as Dumbledore got up to give his speech. He welcomed them all to Hogwarts, warned them not to go sneaking around (with a particular glance at the Mauraders), and introduced the new teachers for the year. Then they all went up to bed, and Sirius said, "You know, I have a good feeling about this year."

"Don't jinx it," said Peter.


	4. The Trouble With Girls

"Sirius, don't be an idiot," Remus said.

Many of their conversations contained a line like this. Sirius kind of liked annoying Remus. He just got so nit-picky over every little thing.

"Sirius, be an idiot," said James.

He laughed. He considered his options. "I'm siding with James, here."

"Of course you are," said Remus.

"You always decide to do the stupid thing," said Peter.

Sirius considered that. "Fair point." He did always decide to do the stupid thing, and he wasn't even sorry about it. Being rational and responsible all the time was boring. That was prefects' job. He got up, and Remus shook his head. James grinned, and Peter watched with wide eyes. "Hey, Marlene."

She turned around, her thick, wavy blond hair spinning around. God, that hair was gorgeous. "Sirius Black, get the hell out of my face," she said, and she stormed up to her dormitory, her hair bouncing behind her. He watched her go, swallowing his wounded pride as he had done every other time she had rejected him.

"Sirius," said Remus. "I mean this in the kindest way possible. She is not into you."

"She'll come around," he said.

"It's been three weeks," said Peter. "And she's known you more than four years."

"Oh come on, why are you taking his side?"

"Because he's right?"

"Don't listen to them, Sirius," said James. "You'll get her to say yes eventually. Just like I'll get Lily to say yes eventually."

"I really don't think Lily is in the mood to have you constantly bothering her," said Remus. "She's upset about something. Yesterday when we were talking, she was almost crying. She won't tell me what the problem is, but whatever it is I don't think your berating her will help."

"I can wait," said James. "She'll say yes eventually."

"And so will Marlene," said Sirius. "I'll get her to." But looking at James, he could see that getting Lily to say yes to him probably meant even more to him than Marlene did to Sirius. He did hope that James and Lily would end up together.

"Even if you did," said Remus, "Would you really want a yes that was only given because you pestered her into it?"

Sirius frowned. "A yes is a yes," he said, but Remus had a point. He wanted her to actually be into him, not to tolerate him. Most of the other girls said yes to him without hesitation. She didn't, and somehow that made her more appealing.

"Whatever," said Remus.

* * *

In Potions class, James and Sirius frowned and looked at their cauldron. It was supposed to be purple, but instead it was a murky brown color.

"What did we do wrong?" he asked. Potions had always been their worst subject; Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration came almost naturally, but this was a very different kind of work.

"You stirred clockwise instead of counterclockwise," said Lily from the table beside them, where her and Marlene's pot was the proper shade of purple.

"Oh. Thanks," said Sirius.

"Yeah, whatever," Lily muttered. He thought he could see what Remus had said; she did look upset. Her head was directed down at the table, and the fiery attitude she usually had was, while not exactly gone, certainly not as prevalent. He could understand having a bad summer; this summer had been particularly bad, with Regulus coming home from his first year of Hogwarts proudly a Slytherin, and their parents chastising Sirius about being a Gryffindor all over again. He was nothing but a disgrace to them, and he and Regulus hardly spoke, either. He remembered all the times he had shared with Regulus as children, when they had played games together as young boys did. Now they didn't even make eye contact most of the time.

"Sirius?" James's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," he said. He certainly wasn't going to bring these thoughts up in the middle of Potions class. "Come on, let's stir it the other way."

They stirred it back; it was still brown, but had a slightly more purplish hue.

"Ah, girls, excellent!" Professor Slughorn said, walking by Lily and Marlene's table. He went over to James and Sirius. "Ah... well done, boys."

Sirius sighed. Oh well. There was one O.W.L. he was going to have a hard time with.


	5. In The Library

Peter sighed as he tried to do his Charms assignment. This was much harder than he had expected it to be. "Have you guys finished?" he asked.

"Yep," said James and Sirius in unison. James appeared to be doodling, while Sirius was fiddling with a little device in his hand.

"Just finished," said Remus.

"Can you help me?"

"We'd love to," said James, "But we have a prank to pull. Sirius, you finished that yet?"

Sirius nodded, and they ran off.

"Come on," said Remus. "We'd better go and make sure they're not going to destroy any school property."

"I've got to stay and do the assignment," said Peter.

"Alright," said Remus. "I'll come back in a bit to help." And he went off after James and Sirius.

With a sigh, Peter went back to his homework. Why were his friends so much better than him at everything?

When he had been sitting there for a little while longer, Lily Evans walked into the library. "Hi," he said as she walked by.

She raised her eyebrows. "In here without the gang?"

"I have to do that Charms homework," he said by way of reply.

Lily nodded. "Tough assignment." She pursed her lips for a moment. "Need some help?"

"Yeah," he said, surprised. Lily hated their group, always did her best to avoid them. Why was she suddenly offering to help him? "Thanks."

She shrugged and sat down beside him. "I think you would use a Stinging Jinx for that one..." she started, then proceeded to ramble on about Charms. She was very good at it. She was one of the smarter students in their year; maybe she and James really would be good for one another.

About twenty minutes later, he had the assignment done. "Thanks, Lily."

She smiled slightly. "Sure. You're not so bad when you don't have James around you."

Peter chuckled nervously. "You know, he really likes you."

Lily snorted. "Good for him. Where are they, anyway? Pulling another dumb prank?"

"Yeah."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures. Well, anyway, see you in class." She walked off to another table, where Marlene McKinnon and Mary MacDonald sat.

Five minutes later, Remus came back into the library. "Well, James and Sirius have detention on Friday night."

"What'd they do?" Peter asked, annoyed that he had missed out on what must have been a cool prank.

"Flooded McGonagall's office."

"That was stupid."

"What else is new?" Remus sighed. "So. Need help with your assignment?"

Peter shook his head. "I finished."

"By yourself?"

"No, actually. Lily helped me." He gestured over to where Lily was now talking with her friends.

"Wow," said Remus. "That was nice of her."

"Yeah." Peter frowned. "She really doesn't like James, though."

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Remus. "She thinks he's arrogant, sure. But that doesn't mean she doesn't like him."

"So you think the two of them will end up together?"

Remus shrugged. "I haven't got the faintest clue."

At that moment, James and Sirius re-entered the library. "Finish that homework yet, Wormtail?" asked James.

"Yeah."

"Great," said Sirius. "Then let's get out of here."

And so they did, but not before Sirius shot a grin towards Marlene, and she rolled her eyes and looked away.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Peter got a letter.

 _Dear Peter,_

 _Hope everything is going alright at Hogwarts! I can't wait to see you at Christmas!_

 _Love, Mum_

He shook his head with a laugh. It was only the beginning of October, and already she was talking about Christmas. He and his mum had always been close, ever since his dad had left. But she seemed to be getting even clingier lately. Maybe it was just because he was growing up.

"Hey Peter, pass the sausage, would you?" said James.

He smiled and handed over the plate of sausage. He had the greatest friends in the world. He was lucky they even let him be friends with them; he was less talented than all of them, he knew that, and yet somehow there was still something they saw in him. They were amazing people, all of them.


	6. Christmas Break

"Are you sure?" James asked again.

Remus nodded. "I love your family, James, but I love my own, too. My parents would be upset if I didn't come home for Christmas."

"Alright," said James. "What about you, Peter?"

"Thanks, but, Mum has written multiple times about how she can't wait to see me at Christmas. If I don't come home, she'll freak. I'll try to come visit."

"Fine. Sirius, you're coming, right?"

"You know I'm coming. What's the alternative?"

"That would be going to your house," Peter said.

Sirius snorted. "I'm not spending a minute longer there than I absolutely have to." He played it off like a joke, but James saw the hint of sadness in his eyes. His best friend was not as lucky as he was in the family department. He was always happy to have Sirius come stay with him, of course, and so were his parents. But he wished that Sirius got along better with his own family. He hated seeing his best friend upset.

"Right. So, it's you and me again."

"Yep."

And so the Christmas holidays began.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, Lily!" he said eagerly as they passed her at Hogsmeade station.

She gave a little snort and shook her head. "Merry Christmas to you too."

"She said it back!" he exclaimed, turning to the other three. "She actually said it back!"

"James, that doesn't mean she likes you," Remus said. "It just means she was being polite."

"Well, at least she's not all angry with me anymore."

"Congratulations, James," said Peter.

"Congratulations?" Remus interjected. "He didn't actually _do_ anything."

"He got one of the best-looking girls in our year to say Merry Christmas to him!"

"She's a nice person, of course she did! She said Merry Christmas to me after the prefect meeting the other day."

"Whatever," said James. "The point is, this means Operation Evans is back on track."

"Oh come on, that is just lame," said Remus.

"Shut it, Moony."

They boarded the train.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, boys!" James's mum exclaimed as soon as she saw them all on the platform.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Potter," Sirius, Remus, and Peter echoed in unison.

"Merry Christmas, Mum," James said.

"Well, I'd best be off," said Remus, walking over to where his parents stood waiting for him. "Have a good holiday."

"I'd better go, too," said Peter. His mother ran up to him at that moment.

"Peter, there you are!"

"Hi mum."

"Come on, then. Let's get you home. Merry Christmas, boys," she added to James and Sirius.

Peter waved goodbye as his mother dragged him down the platform.

"Alright," his mum said. "Let's get you boys home, then."

"Thank you again for having me, Mrs. Potter," said Sirius.

"Oh, of course! Any time! How's your family?"

"They're... um, they're fine," Sirius said, trailing off a bit.

"Well, excellent! Right. Let's go."

They walked off the platform and down the street to the nearest building that was attached to the Floo Network, and went home. James smiled upon arriving at his house; as much as he loved Hogwarts, he loved it here, too.

"Okay, you boys can-" his mum started, but before she had even said, "head up to James's room," they were already at the top of the stairs. They went into his rather large bedroom, which had an extra bed set up because of how often Sirius came over. There were plenty of rooms in the large manor for them each to have their own, but they always preferred to share James's room, if for nothing else than because they could hide their secret stashes of pranking materials in there.

After they had dropped off all of their things, they went back downstairs. His dad arrived home at around the same time. "James! Sirius! Welcome home." He went into the kitchen, where dinner was just about ready; Mum had started making it before even coming to pick them up.

"So, boys, how is fifth year going?" Dad asked as they all sat down to eat.

"Fine," said James. "Gryffindor is doing well in Quidditch."

"Well, of course they are, with you as star Chaser," Mum said with a smile. "What about you, Sirius?" she asked.

He shrugged. "They're fine. Did James tell you he's having girl troubles?"

"Sirius!" James exclaimed, and Sirius smirked.

"Girl troubles?" Dad asked. "Of what sort?"

"Sirius is just being Sirius. I don't have girl troubles. No more than he has, anyway."

That wiped the smirk off of Sirius's face.

"Well, alright then," said Mum. "Are you prepared for your O.W.L.s.?"

As dinner went on, James looked around and smiled, glad to be home.


	7. Entanglements

**A/N: I am so sorry for disappearing for such a long time! This is what happens when you start binge watching a new show on Netflix and then have midterms, I guess :/ But I'm back now! I hope this chapters satisfies you!**

* * *

"Oh, come on, Petunia, again?"

"My feelings haven't changed, Lily. I don't want to go to your stupid magical platform with you."

Lily sighed and walked to the car. She and Petunia had drifted even further apart over break... she was concerned that they would never be close again. Her mother drove her to the platform. She was happier now than she had been the last time, though she still missed Lily's father. So did Lily. But this year hadn't turned out as bad as she had feared. Even James seemed to have been keeping his distance somewhat, and she thought it might have had something to do with Remus. He was actually rather nice, as much as she knew him as co-prefect, anyway.

When she arrived at the platform, she saw James, and almost wanted to say hello; she perhaps enjoyed their interactions a little more than she cared to admit. But he and Sirius were discussing something, and she quickly suppressed the foolish thought. She said goodbye to her mother and stored her things in the luggage area of the prefects' cart. Only Severus was already there. "Hi," she said with a smile.

He smiled back. "Hi, Lily!" They hadn't had as much time to spend with each other this year, which was unfortunate, given that Severus had been such good friends with her as a child.

"How was your break?"

He shrugged. "Same as always. Yours?"

"Could have been better... but it was alright, I guess." She didn't know how to explain to him the issue of her relationship with Petunia; Severus had never liked Petunia, had been at odds with her ever since they were young children.

"I had hoped to see you."

"Yes, I had hoped to see you too, but I was rather busy. Lots of work to do, and all that."

He nodded. "Anyway. Back to school."

"Yep."

"We've really got to start working hard toward those O.W.L.s now."

"We sure do," Lily agreed. She knew she could do well at Potions, and she'd probably be alright at Charms, but the other subjects were more difficult to master.

Other prefects filtered in and out; Remus was the last one to enter the compartment. He sat beside her. "Hi, Lily."

"Hi, Remus," she said politely. "How was your break?"

"Fine. Yours?"

"Fine."

As the train rolled off to Hogwarts, and Lily did her rounds, she wondered vaguely what her future would hold. The thought of O.W.L.s brought with it all those career planning issues, and she just didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. She could maybe run a potions business... perhaps she and Severus could run it together, they were the best in their class at Potions. But she really wasn't sure she wanted to do things with Severus anymore. He was spending time with bad people, with people about whom Lily had heard rumors, rumors she believed, that they were planning to become Death Eaters. The idea of Severus being around people who would devote their lives to You-Know-Who sickened her, and she hoped he would come around and see things for what they were soon enough.

* * *

Lily sighed and scratched out a word in her History of Magic essay. She was dreadful at these, though, to be fair, everyone in the school was dreadful at them, because nobody was really interested in the class. Everyone in other classes generally fell asleep; in her section, though, people watched James and Sirius pull pranks on Professor Binns and be idiots, occasionally throwing things through him just for fun. She had to admit that some of their antics were slightly amusing, but not enough that they didn't annoy her.

James came down the stairs at that moment. "Hey, Lily."

She rolled her eyes. "Hello, James."

"What are you up to?"

"Our History of Magic homework." God, this was annoying. He could at least have the decency to skip the small talk.

"So, you know, there's a Hogsmeade visit this weekend."

"Yep."

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to-"

"No."

"Alright." He walked away, looking dejected, and Lily rolled her eyes again. What an idiot. He just didn't know when to give up.


	8. Betrayal

**A/N: Sorry again for the long break.**

Remus tried to finish his essay, but he couldn't focus at the moment. He was still furious with his friends. He hadn't spoken to them in a week, not since the incident. What had Sirius been thinking? He could have killed Severus, and if he had he surely would have been expelled from school, if not arrested and sent to Azkaban. He had betrayed Remus completely, one of the few people Remus had thought never would. And James-James had saved Severus, but he had still defended Sirius, and Peter had, of course, taken their side like always. They all infuriated him. Severus now knew what he was, and sure, he had been made to keep secret about it, but it wasn't like there was any reason to trust him.

Lily walked into the common room. "Oh, Remus, hi," she said. "Do you want to handle that prefect business now? Or is it not a good time?" she added, seeing the look on his face.

He shrugged. "Now is fine." He certainly wasn't getting anywhere with the essay.

She sat next to him, pulling out some papers. "So, I think we should arrange a meeting at that time, it would be more convenient."

He nodded absently. "Sure."

She frowned. "I know it's none of my business, but is something wrong?"

He sighed and looked at her. "It's nothing. I'm just in a fight with my friends right now."

"Does it... have something to do with Severus?" she asked tentatively.

His eyes widened in horror. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing officially, but he's said for ages he was planning to follow you and the school nurse, and we all know what happened a few days ago with the Whomping Willow, and I figured they were connected somehow."

Remus blinked. He'd been planning to follow them? Before Sirius had told him how?

"I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry for whatever he did."

"You don't have to apologize for Severus."

"I'm his friend, I sort of do. The way you apologized to me on behalf of James."

"I suppose I did do that."

Lily seemed to consider for a moment before making her next statement. "You know I have problems with your friends, many of them. But they do care a lot about the things they care about, and one of those things is you. Whatever they did to wrong you, I'm sure that was not their intention."

No, they were just arrogant. "Thanks."

"No problem." She smiled slightly. "So. Back to the work..."

"Right."

* * *

Remus took a deep breath, then walked up to his three friends in the hallway. "Hi."

"Hi!" Peter exclaimed, while James and Sirius looked warily at him.

"I decided to give you a chance to explain yourself," he said to Sirius.

Sirius smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"Make it quick, please."

"Right. Snivellus kept talking about wanting to find out what you were up to. He was determined to get down there. So I let slip how to do it because I figured he would get scared off and leave us alone. And he deserved it, anyway. But... I didn't think about the effect it would have on you," he said, ashamed. "I didn't even think about you getting in trouble or about him finding out your secret. And I'm really sorry about that."

He was clearly sincere. Remus knew he should still be angry at him, but these were the only friends he had. "I forgive you," he said. "But don't even think about ever doing something like that ever again, understood?"

"Absolutely," said James and Sirius in unison, with Peter nodding his head.

And with that, the four of them walked into class together.


	9. Brothers

Sirius grinned as he walked down the hallway with his friends; things were going pretty well today. Then, he saw his brother, and almost immediately his expression fell. He slowed his walking pace a bit, then sped up again, laughing overly loudly at the sarcastic comment James had made. He could feel his friends' eyes watching him as they passed Regulus in the hallway, then headed up to Gryffindor tower. Once they were in the common room, James said, "Sirius?"

"Hmm?" he replied, despite knowing exactly what thought train James was on.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" he asked, feigning ignorance. He had never brought this issue up to his friends, not seriously, anyway; an offhand comment about his family, sure, but actually talking about them was something he had always avoided, like he tried to avoid running into Regulus at school.

"You're not fooling us," Remus said gently.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What is there to talk about? I don't get along with my family. You lot are more like brothers to me than Regulus, that's all there is to it."

"Are you sure about that?" James asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he replied, his tone more bitter than he had meant for it to come out. He headed up to the dormitory, leaving his friends in the common room.

He sat down on his bed, pulled out his trunk, and ruffled through it to pull out the picture of him and Regulus as kids that he kept despite his better judgement. Six-year-old Sirius laughed and shoved his four-year-old brother lightly, and Regulus then pushed Sirius nearly out of the frame. They both came back into the center, laughing. They had just been kids then, hadn't understood anything about blood purity or power dynamics. Sirius had known that he found his parents cold and mean, but he hadn't yet known why, and he hadn't yet grouped Regulus in with them. They all subscribed to terrible ideologies, but a small part of Sirius, though he didn't like it, had a sliver of hope for Regulus. He was only thirteen, and he was, like Sirius, a victim of their parents' cruel ways. But talking to Regulus was out of the question. They really didn't communicate anymore, what with Regulus being the golden boy of the family and Sirius being the black sheep. Sirius had absolutely no idea how to get through to his little brother. He put the picture back in his trunk with a sigh.

James, Remus, and Peter walked into the dormitory, and Sirius shook his head. He should have known they wouldn't let him sit up here alone. "So, you're fine?" James said, raising his eyebrows.

"Look," Sirius said slowly, not wanting to offend his friends. "All of you are only siblings. You won't... you can't understand it."

"Understand what?" asked Remus. "That you're upset about your relationship with your family?"

"It's not all of them," Sirius said. "I mean, my parents are just kind of awful, I've accepted that." He ignored the others' concerned looks. "It's just, Regulus... I don't know. He's my brother. When we were kids, we did stuff together, back before we understood that we had different views. And there's a part of me that just wishes he would see the right side of things, that we could actually be brothers again. He's not strong enough to go against our parents, and I wish he was."

"Maybe he'll come around," Peter suggested.

Sirius laughed humorlessly. "Maybe."

"You could try talking to him," said Remus. "At school, away from your parents' influence."

"I think you underestimate how far their influence reaches. And I don't think..." He took a breath. "I don't think I could bring myself to talk to him. If it didn't end well, if he ignored me..." He didn't finish the thought, but he was fairly certain the others got his point.

James sat down beside him on the bed, silent for a moment. Then he said, "Do you wanna go pull a prank on the librarian?"

Sirius grinned. "Sure."

They jumped up and went out of the dormitory, Remus and Peter following.

* * *

 **A/N: I know that in an earlier chapter I said Regulus had been in first year the previous year, but I had the dates wrong; according to the Harry Potter Wiki, he was born in 1961, making him a maximum of two years below Sirius (b. 1959) and co., so that's how I have it here and from this point onwards. Just adjust the bit from that earlier chapter slightly in your head.**


	10. OWLs and Grave Mistakes

Peter frowned as he looked at the examination before him. What was the hand motion for the Shield Charm again? He couldn't remember it for the life of him. Defense Against the Dark Arts was an easy subject for James and Sirius, but he found it much more problematic. Then again, he found every subject more problematic than James and Sirius did; they were brilliant. They would probably walk away with a dozen O.W.L.s each; Peter would be lucky to get half as many. He knew his mother would be proud of him no matter what marks he received, but he really did wish that just once he could truly impress her. She had given him so much, and he wanted to make her happy in return.

As he followed the other three Mauraders out of the exam, he rethought his answers to several of the questions. Then he reminded himself that that certainly wasn't doing him any good. They sat down under a tree to discuss the exam; James was playing with a Snitch, on which he had scratched Lily's initials. Over the course of this year, she had gone from completely ignoring him to giving him begrudging acknowledgment, which James seemed to take as a great sign, but Peter was pretty sure it was just her being nice. He, Remus, and Sirius had a betting pool going on when/if James and Lily would ever get together; Sirius had bet on by the beginning of sixth year, Peter had gone for Christmas break of seventh year, and Remus had bet on "never, unless James stops acting like a prat around her." It certainly didn't appear that Sirius was going to win the bet, or the affections of Marlene McKinnon.

When Snivellus came over to where they were, Peter couldn't help but internally roll his eyes a bit. Sure, he was obnoxious, annoying, and bordering on possibly being a Dark Wizard, but quite honestly, he didn't think the obsession James and Sirius had with him was entirely necessary. Still, friends stuck together, so Peter wasn't going to say anything to them. And it was fun making him squirm. Only this time, it was possible that James had gone too far. In fact, Peter was pretty sure he had.

As he watched the scene unfold, James using Levicorpus on its inventor, the threat to remove his trousers, and then his shocking use of that word, that terrible, forbidden word, Peter could see the threads of normalcy unravelling. And as Lily Evans stormed off, fuming at what Snivellus had called her, he had the feeling that something fundamental had just changed. And all he could do was watch, watch as James flicked his wand to expose him to the onlookers, and then Remus said feebly, "James, don't you think that's maybe enough?"

"Before he called Evans that word, maybe," said James through gritted teeth. "Not anymore."

* * *

During their Transfiguration exam the next day, Peter couldn't help but notice Snivellus looking over toward Lily, and her refusing to meet his gaze. Their friendship had been a part of why James disliked him so; now that it was over, would things change? Things between James and Lily certainly didn't seem to have; she was firmly avoiding his gaze, too.

When all of their exams were over, and the year had ended, they boarded the carriages to Hogsmeade station.

"This was quite a year, wasn't it?" said James as they sat in their cabin on the Hogwarts express.

"You could say that," Peter agreed.

They arrived at King's Cross station, and saw Lily on the platform. "Have good summer, Evans!" James called out to her.

She walked away without a reply.

"Damn," said James. "All the progress, reversed."

"Maybe the incident with Severus had something to do with it," Remus, who had joined them, suggested.

"That git called her a you-know-what, why would she still care about him?"

"I don't know whether she does," said Remus. "But she cares about you, and she thinks that you showed her who you are that day. Would you like someone who would do something like that to somebody you had ever cared about?"

James frowned. "I guess I hadn't thought of it like that."

Peter saw his mother waving through the crowd. "Oh, there's mum, I'd better go. See you all later."

"See you," they chorused, waving at him as he walked over to his mother.

"So, Peter, dear, how was the school year?" his mother asked.

"Eventful."

"Oh. And your exams?"

"We'll see."

"Yes we will. Let's get you home."

They got in the car to drive home, and Peter wondered vaguely what the future had in store.


	11. A Place to Stay

"You're all wrong, you know!" Sirius shouted. "All of you. Blood purity, status of birth... none of it means anything!"

"Of course you think that, hanging out with your blood traitor friend Potter," his father spat.

"James is a better person than you will ever be."

"How dare you say something like that?!" his mother shouted. "You are a disgrace, you know! A disgrace to your family, to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black!"

"Well, screw the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black!"

The smack echoed through the room as Walburga Black slapped her son clean across the face. "Then leave, if you so hate your family."

Sirius blinked rapidly for a moment, then replied. "Fine. I'll go pack a bag."

He ran into his room, slammed the door, and pulled out his trunk, haphazardly throwing whatever items he could find into it. His pictures were stuck on the walls, and that was fine; better they stay here, to annoy his parents. When everything was packed, he pulled his wand out to levitate the trunk, and heard a knock.

"What?" he grumbled.

The door creaked open, and his little brother stood in the doorway, eyes wide. "Sirius."

"What, Regulus?"

"Please don't go."

Suddenly the boy of fourteen disappeared, and Sirius saw once more the four year old he had played with in that photograph. Could he leave him here? Could he leave his little brother with these awful people, and allow them to continue to corrupt him? "I have to, Reg... will you come with me?"

He looked into his brother's eyes for a long moment, and he knew the answer before Regulus said it. "I can't, Sirius."

And in that moment, Sirius knew that Regulus was lost to him, in some irreparable way. "I understand. But I have to go." He was leaving his brother in the snake pit. But he had offered him a way out.

"I know." Regulus teetered in the doorway for a moment, then went into his brother's room and gave him a hug. "Goodbye."

Stunned, Sirius wrapped his arms around his younger brother. "Goodbye."

And with that permanent farewell between them, they broke apart, knowing they would forever be on opposite sides of a divide. Regulus walked out of Sirius's bedroom, and Sirius pushed all of his thoughts to the back of his mind for as long as it would take to get where he was going. He levitated his trunk and walked out of the bedroom, then out of the house, hoping he would never again darken that doorstep. He went to the curb and stuck his arm out, summoning the Knight Bus. "Where to?'' the conductor asked.

Sirius gave him the address of James' home and sat down on one of the beds laid out on the floor. The bus pulled away from the curb. Sirius didn't look back.

* * *

Sirius knocked on the door of the Potters' mansion, wondering what he would look like standing out here in the middle of the night with an enormous trunk beside him.

Euphemia Potter opened the door, and her eyes grew wide. "Sirius!"

"I'm so sorry to bother you, Mrs. Potter," he said, "But could I stay here?" His voice sounded unnaturally weak even to him.

"Of course," she said without hesitation, stepping aside to let him in. "I'll go and get James." She headed up the stairs, and Sirius stood in the entryway of the large house, starting to shiver even though he had stepped out of the cold.

James ran down the stairs, taking them what appeared to be three at a time. "Sirius! What happened?"

He didn't reply for a moment. Finally, when James' look began to go from concerned to afraid, he said, "I've made a permanent departure from my parents' house."

His statement hung in the air for a few seconds, then James walked up to Sirius and gave him a hug.

Not quite able to summon the energy to hug James back, Sirius simply stood there. The gravity of what he had just done was beginning to set in.

The silence was broken when Euphemia said softly, "Would you like anything? Some tea, or hot chocolate, or a snack?"

The contrast between the wonderful Mrs. Potter and how awful his own mother was threatened to overwhelm him. "No thank you, Mrs. Potter," he managed to get out. "I'm just going to bring my trunk up, if that's alright."

"Of course, dear. I'm just going to go speak with James' father." She walked out of the room, and James pulled out his wand to levitate Sirius's trunk up the stairs for him.

When they had reached James's room, he shut the door behind them. "What happened?" he asked again.

"It was just a fight," said Sirius. He didn't want to recount it. But James deserved the story. "Like we have all the time. But this one was just... the straw that broke the camel's back. I couldn't do it anymore. My mother slapped me and said that if I hated our family so much, I should just leave. And I said fine. Then I left." He sat down on the spare bed and debated telling James about his moment with Regulus; he wasn't sure if he could bear to face again the loss of his brother.

"Hold on, your mother slapped you?" James sounded horrified.

"Not the first time she's done it. But I'd had enough."

James simply nodded, still looking horrified.

"It's a relief, really," Sirius said. "Being out of that house. I hated it."

One look at James told him he wasn't fooling him. It _was_ a relief being out of there. And he had hated it, and his family. But it still felt strange to say goodbye to everything he had known. The hatred had been so constant, a daily feeling in that house, and now he was free of it. But he also wished he didn't have to hate his parents. And more than anything, he wished he didn't have to hate his brother. Bracing himself, he told James about his moment with Regulus, about how they had permanently parted ways, and despite his best efforts, a single tear escaped when he said, "And now I guess we're not brothers anymore."

James didn't reply. He simply sat down on the bed beside Sirius, and they sat there in silence for a few minutes.

"Do you want me to write to Moony and Wormtail, or would you rather I wait?"

"Wait for what?" Sirius shrugged. "Tell them, I guess." He sighed. "I'm going to bed."

James nodded. "Goodnight, Sirius."

"Night." He lay back on the bed fully clothed, his mind wandering off, wondering if he would actually sleep that night.


	12. New Year, New Lily

Lily entered Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, pushing her things in front of her. Her mother waved at her from the car; she had told her that she didn't need her to come on the platform with her anymore. She was sixteen now, she wasn't a little kid who had to be seen off everywhere. Petunia still wasn't there, and evidently would never touch the magical world ever again. She and Lily had hardly talked all summer; even when they had, it was nothing more than small talk. She had been lonelier this summer than possibly even the last; Severus lived just a couple blocks away from her, but she hadn't gone over to see him once. He had come to her place. Her mother had informed when she returned from the library one day that he had stopped by asking to see her. Lily had informed her mother that they were no longer speaking, and Severus would have nothing to say to her. She had seen his Death Eaters sympathies building, but she had still been shocked to hear him call her something so awful in front of all of those people. At least she had ended their friendship now, and not after he had enlisted in the Death Eaters and started killing people.

As she walked down the platform, hair flying everywhere, she saw Remus and his father. "Hey," she said, stopping her cart for a second.

"Hey, Lily," he replied. He sounded distracted.

"Oh, so this is the famous Lily Evans," said his father, grinning and holding out his hand. "Lyall Lupin, nice to meet you."

"Famous?" Lily raised her eyebrows.

"I don't know, I mentioned you maybe twice," said Remus, shrugging.

"True, but James has talked quite a bit about you."

Lily snorted and rolled her eyes. "Great." She was still furious with James for what he had done to Severus; it wasn't fair to blame him for what he had called her, but a part of her wondered if maybe he hadn't done it, and Severus hadn't called her that, she might still have been able to change his views. Even if she knew somewhere that he was too far gone already.

"Well, I should probably head out," said Mr. Lupin, "Don't want to leave your mother alone in the house while she's ill."

"Bye, Dad," said Remus.

"Goodbye, son."

He left, and Lily frowned. "Your mother's sick?"

"Yeah," said Remus. "I'm... kind of worried, actually."

"Well, I hope she's alright," Lily said.

"Yeah, me too." He shook his head. "So. How was your summer?"

She shrugged. "Uneventful." She nodded to the train. "Should we head to the prefect car?"

"Yeah."

As they walked towards the train, Marlene came up to them. "Lily! Did you read about the Quidditch match last Friday?"

"Um, no, I don't think so."

"It was amazing!"

"I'm sure it was, Marlene. I'll read about it later."

"Okay." She rolled her eyes. "Oh, looks like Mary's here. Talk to you later." She ran off.

"Well, that was brief," said Lily.

The next people to walk up to them were less welcome, to Lily at least: James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

"Remus!" James said. "Been a little while since we saw you."

"I've been busy," said Remus. "My mother's still sick."

The grin disappeared off of James's face. "Still? That's nearly a month, isn't it?"

"I... wasn't really keeping track," Remus said, but Lily could see that he was lying. "Anyway. What's been going on at the Potter residence?"

"Well, I almost burned it down trying to practice that spell," James said. "Mum and Dad weren't pleased."

"It was really something to watch, though," said Sirius, and Lily frowned. Why had he been at James's house when the others weren't there? Whatever. It wasn't any of her business.

"They finished the-" Peter began, before Sirius cut him off.

"Project."

"That's what I was going to say," Peter said.

"Oh, cool! Worked out the bugs, then?" Remus asked.

"Yep." James grinned.

Lily watched the exchange with mild amusement. "Secret project, huh? Something Remus should be reporting you for?"

"No," they all chorused in unison, and she actually laughed.

"How're you doing, Evans?" James asked.

"Fine, Potter." She tried to make her voice sound as cold as possible, and rolled her eyes for good measure.

"I, uh, I'm sorry for... what happened at the end of last year."

She blinked. Was James Potter actually _apologizing_ for something? The arrogant toerag? It probably wasn't an apology of remorse, she figured, just another attempt to get her to go out with him or something, but at least it was an apology. "Uh... thanks," she managed to get out. Thanks? That was stupid, he wasn't giving her a gift, he was giving her an apology for something terrible he had done. Why did she always seem to lose her senses when she was talking to James?

"Well, uh, we have prefect business to get to," said Remus, "So, it was great seeing you guys."

"Right, off to the fancy car," said Peter.

"Later, Remus," said Sirius, and the three of them walked away.

"Arrogant toerag," Lily muttered.

Remus chuckled. "I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know you said that."

"Like I care." She sighed. "Do I want to know what that secret project you lot were on about is?"

"Probably not," said Remus.

"Figured."

They walked into the prefect car and put their things on the luggage rack, and then Lily encountered an even more unwanted face: Severus Snape.

"Lily-" he started, but she walked past him and sat on the other side of the compartment.

When Remus walked by her, she quietly said, "Sit next to me."

He obliged, whispering back, "Why?"

"It'll annoy Severus."

"Ah." He looked from Lily to Severus. "Right."

She knew she was being petty, but she didn't care anymore. He had called her the most offensive thing a Muggle-born person could be called, and he very clearly believed the philosophy behind the word. He was going to end up being a Death Eater, and she wanted no part of that.

He sat down, and she avoided his gaze as the train pulled away from the station.


	13. Stressed Out

Remus sighed and put his head in his hands. He couldn't take it anymore, everything in his life seemed to be piling on top of each other to make the perfect storm of stress. He was taking six N.E.W.T.-level classes, each proving to be quite challenging, his prefect duties had nearly doubled this year, the Marauders' Map was just about complete but needed to be finalized and perfected, which meant even spending time with his friends was something like work, he had a three-foot essay on the Summoning Charm due by Friday, which was also a full moon, meaning he'd need it done by midday on Thursday, and despite what he tried to let on to his friends, he was increasingly worried about his mother, who was still sick nearly a month into the term. He was at his wits' end. He stared at the blank page in front of him, eyes drooping, and tried to force himself to stay awake. He had been up until nearly five o'clock in the morning reading his Transfiguration textbook. The exhaustion really wasn't helping with the near-constant pounding headache he had.

He felt his hands clench tightly around the edge of the table he was working at. He just needed a break, just a few minutes to not think about everything that was happening...

"Hi, Remus," said Marlene McKinnon, walking into the common room.

Broken out of his thoughts, Remus looked up at her with a smile. "Hi."

"What are you doing in here alone on a beautiful Sunday afternoon?"

"Oh, I'm just working on that Charms paper."

Marlene nodded. "Right, that's a challenging one. Lily's already got hers finished, Charms is a breeze for her."

Remus nodded. "Yeah, she's great at it."

"Well, if you want a break from your work, the idiot twins are out by that tree."

"Do you mean James and Sirius?"

"Them's the ones."

"Oh. Thanks for the information."

"Yeah, no problem." She headed upstairs to her dormitory.

Maybe he could use a little break. Heading outside, he walked across the grounds to where James and Sirius sat. "Hey."

James grinned. "Hey, Remus. How's your day been?"

"Incredibly stressful."

James frowned. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I can handle having a lot of work."

"You sure you're alright?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Where's Peter?" he asked, to change the subject.

"In the castle somewhere," Sirius explained. "We're checking to see if the map can locate him."

"How's it going?"

"Pretty well. We found him in the first two locations, he's trying some more challenging ones now," said James.

"I still can't believe we managed to make this thing," he said.

"Are you underestimating us?" Sirius looked affronted.

"No. But this is some advanced magic."

"Are you bragging, Remus?" James arched an eyebrow.

"No! I-" he sighed. "Anyway, we've got to decide on the wording of the introduction."

"Ah, yes," said James. "Because an introduction probably only read by us is so important."

"Aren't we going to bequeath it to the next generation of pranksters?" Sirius asked.

James shrugged. "I guess." He turned to Remus. "Why, do you want your name to be first, Moony?"

"I don't-"

"Well, that settles it," said Sirius. "Moony's name goes first. It sounds better, anyway. And Prongs should go last-"

"Excuse me?"

"One syllable. Has to be at the end. It'll sound wrong otherwise."

"Whatever. When did you get so concerned with how things sound?"

Remus tuned out their bickering with a chuckle. It really was amazing, this map they had made. Incredibly illegal, but amazing nonetheless. He looked out over the lake with a faint smile. Even as stressful as this year was, he knew he would always be able to count on his friends.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Remus looked up from his work to see an owl delivering a letter to him. He took it; it was from his father.

 _Remus,_

 _Your mother is still ill, and I'm getting concerned. I'm not well-versed in Muggle diseases, so my cures don't appear to be working. We went to a Muggle doctor; he's going to be running some tests on her over the next couple of weeks, and I just thought you might want to know. She's probably going to be alright, I think._

 _Love, Dad._

The letter didn't reassure him; if anything, now he was more concerned. There were a few Muggle diseases he could think of, and none of them were good.

James, Sirius, and Peter returned from their work on the map. "So it's settled," Peter said. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."

"Nice," said Remus absentmindedly.

"You alright?" James asked, again.

Remus sighed. "Not really."

"Anything we can do to help?" Sirius asked.

"Not really."


	14. Up To No Good

James grinned as Sirius waved his wand, casting the final spell. "So that's it, then? The Maurader's Map is officially open for business?"

"Indeed. We'll never have to worry about sneaking past Filch again. Every last possible occurrence is accounted for."

"Excellent. That near-miss last year was a problem."

"Yeah, we should have thought about pets more," Sirius agreed. "Damn Filch's cat."

"Can you imagine," said James, smiling at the parchment, "giving this to the next generation of Hogwarts pranksters?" A fierce pride ran through him.

"They could do a lot of good with it," Sirius said.

"Don't you mean no good?"

"Oh, of course."

As they sat there, Lily walked by them. "Hey, Evans," James said with a smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Hi, Potter."

"Progress," James said with a smile. He watched Lily go with a sigh. She was perfect, everything he could ever want. Girl after girl kept asking them out, but James turned nearly all of them down; he was waiting for Lily. She would come around eventually. He just had to give her some time. He knew, despite what she tried to show, that she did like him. So he would wait for her to realize it. He did feel bad over what had happened after their O.W.L.s. Not for making fun of Snape, the prick deserved it, what with his dark arts obsession and pure-blood mania. But he felt bad that it had hurt Lily. And deep down, he knew that he had gone too far even with Severus. But hearing him use that word... on Lily... it had been too much for him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sirius asked, startling James out of his reverie.

"Oh. Just thinking about how Lily is amazing and absolutely going to come around eventually."

Sirius chuckled.

As if to ruin the triumphant moment, Regulus Black walked by. He showed no indication that he had seen his older brother, but Sirius visibly tensed.

"You alright?" James asked cautiously. Sirius often got touchy when pressed on the matter.

"Fine," he replied curtly. He got up and walked away.

James sighed and rolled up the map, then got an idea. Opening it up, he said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," witnessing the dots moving about the castle. He saw Severus Snape's dot in a fourth floor corridor, and headed there. When Snape was turned away from him, he cast the Jelly-Legs Jinx, then ran off. It was petty, he knew that. But Snape was probably going to become a Death Eater, so James convinced himself that he deserved it.

* * *

Four weeks later, on Halloween, James saw an opportunity to sit next to Lily at the feast. He sat down, pretending not to notice her.

"Very subtle, Potter," she mumbled under her breath.

"Where's Remus?" he asked, when a few minutes later his friend had not arrived. "Didn't you two have a prefect meeting?"

"Yes," she said. "He did seem a bit distracted. Think he's got a lot of work to do."

"But it's the feast. Even Remus wouldn't study through this, would he?"

Lily shrugged. "Don't ask me. I think he also mentioned getting a letter from his Dad?"

James bit his lip and caught Peter's eye across the table. If he had gotten a letter from his father, it might be something about his mother's illness. He kept insisting it wasn't a big deal, but James knew better than to trust him on that.

"Well, lovely chatting, Lily, but I've got to go," he said, getting up from the table. Peter and Sirius followed suit.

When they reached the dormitory, Remus was sitting in his bed. His face was read; he had clearly been crying. "What are you doing here?" he asked when they walked in. "You should be at the feast."

"We were worried about you," James said.

"Well, don't be. I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Remus, what is it?" Sirius asked. "Is it about your mother?"

At the mention of his mother, Remus looked away, but he reached over to his bedside table to retrieve a letter. "She's gotten a diagnosis. From the Muggle doctors."

"And?" said Peter.

"It's a terminal diagnosis," said Remus slowly. "They give her about a year to live."

James felt his heart breaking for his friend; Remus was very close to his parents, having not been allowed to interact with other children before Hogwarts and often having only them for company. And on the few times James had met Mrs. Lupin, she had been nothing but kind and welcoming, not unlike his own parents. "I'm so sorry, Remus." That didn't seem like enough, but he didn't know what else to say.

"Is there nothing magic can do?" Sirius asked.

"Dad's working on it," Remus replied.

The three of them walked closer to Remus, and Sirius sat down beside him. "I bet he'll figure something out."

"Maybe," said Remus. He stood up. "Right, then. Time to head to the feast. Don't want to miss the food."


	15. First Snow

Peter stared at the assignment in his hands, wondering if he would ever understand it. Behind him, James and Sirius were arguing. "No, you set off the fireworks _before_ the big speech," said Sirius. "Then all the attention is on you."

"But if you do the fireworks after, it leaves off on a better note."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Which is the best way to ask Lily to go to Hogsmeade with me," said James.

"I think anything with fireworks is just a little over the top."

"Well, what do you know, Wormtail, how many girls have you dated?"

"How many girls have you dated?"

Sirius put his hand to his mouth, glee in his face. "He got you there, Prongs."

"I keep saying no because I'm waiting for Lily."

"Sure, buddy," said Sirius, grinning.

Wormtail chuckled to himself before going back to his assignment.

After about five minutes had gone by, Remus walked into the common room, a light dusting of snow on his hat. "It's snowing."

James grinned. "First snow of the season, is it?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, time for a snowball fight."

Peter jumped up excitedly. The assignment could wait. Running upstairs after James and Sirius, he threw on some snow-appropriate clothes, and the four of them headed outside to the grounds.

* * *

The snow outside was barely an inch thick, but that didn't stop the Marauders from magicking it into snowballs. They could have just used their hands, but where was the fun in that? As he lobbed a snowball at Sirius, he thought of how this would be the second to last time they were all at Hogwarts for the first snow of the season. Would they even all be together after that? As he got lost a bit in his thoughts, James landed one right in his face.

The fight went on for about fifteen minutes before someone laughing broke them out of it for a second. They looked over at Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon. Marlene was shaking her head, but Lily was still smiling. "Having a snowball fight, are you?" she said. "There's hardly even any snow."

"Tradition," said Sirius, shrugging. "Always on the first snow of the season."

Lily grinned. "Can I join?"

James looked like he might pass out. "Okay!"

Smiling, she made the largest snowball Peter thought he had ever seen, and launched it directly at James.

As the snow hit him, he began sputtering, and Lily laughed again. Peter couldn't help but also laugh, and soon Sirius and Remus had joined him. Even Marlene was chuckling.

"Oh, alright, hilarious, Evans," James said. "Ready for the revenge, though, are you?"

"Bring it, Potter," she said with a smirk.

Peter exchanged a look with Sirius.

James launched a snowball at Lily.

The fight continued.

Lily left with Marlene after ten minutes or so, but the damage had been done; James was grinning like even more of an idiot than usual. "Well, guess she really does like me."

"She might," Remus agreed. "She still won't date you unless you make some changes."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, for one, you could stop relentlessly pursuing her. She knows you're interested. Maybe let her come around on her own."

James frowned. "I guess that does make sense."

"Maybe also stop hexing people for fun," Peter suggested. "She doesn't seem to approve."

"As prefect, I also don't approve," said Remus.

Sirius took advantage of the pause for conversation to hit Remus in the back with a snowball.

Remus turned around and faced him. "Oh, it is on."

* * *

Later, as they were all sitting by the fire to dry themselves off, James said, "How long do you think it'll take Lily to come around?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't know. She might not ever. But it depends on what you do."

"Just make sure she doesn't know you're still hexing people for fun," said Sirius. "What's the map for, after all?"

"Really?" said Remus. "Right in front of me? I'm supposed to keep you lot in check."

"You're doing a bang-up job of it, Remus," Peter said.

Sirius and James snorted.

"But he might be right," Peter felt the need to add. "Lying to her by doing things behind her back isn't a great way to start a relationship, is it?"

"But it's not like I'm actually hurting anyone!" James argued. "It's just a little fun, and they're mostly going to be Death Eaters anyway."

"It's not very mature, though, James," said Remus. "Lily wants somebody who's mature, and hexes are fairly childish."

"There's nothing mature about Snivellus, and she was his friend for years."

"Well, she ended that," said Sirius. "Hasn't spoken to him all year."

"Lily knows where her priorities lie," said Peter.

"Exactly," said Remus. "Do you, James?"


	16. Troublesome News

James tossed the snitch he was holding to Sirius, grinning. "Truth or Dare, Sirius?"

"Dare."

"Tell Professor McGonagall that you love her."

"Oh c'mon, James, I don't want to get detention in the last week before break."

"Fine. Tell Snivellus that you love him."

"Alright, I'll take the detention!"

"Good dog."

Peter's jaw dropped, and Remus snorted out the tea he was drinking. Sirius gave James a death glare, but James countered, trying to stare him down. This, right here, was the perfect moment. The four of them, hanging out together, without any outside interference. Moments like these were getting fewer and far between. They all had so much work, now, and James had to admit that he was devoting perhaps too much attention to chasing Lily, and then there was the news, always concerning, always creeping in.

Sirius tossed the snitch to Remus, who caught it somewhat hesitantly. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Remus said.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You always do truth."

"Sirius."

"Fine. If you had to date one of the Marauders, who would you pick? Yourself not included."

Remus blushed a deep red. "Dare!"

"Answer the question."

Remus sighed deeply. "Um... Peter, because he's not arrogant to the point of making me want to vomit."

James pretended to look offended. "Remus! How dare you!"

Sirius looked offended too, but less like he was pretending.

Remus tossed the snitch to Peter. "Truth or Dare, Wormtail?"

"Er... Dare!"

"Hmm. Turn in your Charms assignment late."

James and Sirius groaned in unison. "Only you would think that was a dare," said James.

"Hey! My turn, I pick."

James rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Peter gave James the snitch. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"What would you do to Sirius if he asked Lily out?"

"Take him to the hospital. Clearly he'd be very ill to do such a thing, the poor chap."

As he tossed it back to Sirius, they were interrupted by an owl flying into the common room, delivering the day's Daily Prophet to Remus. With one look at the front page, he paled.

James looked over at the headline and felt his stomach sink.

YOU-KNOW-WHO STRIKES AGAIN: MINISTRY OFFICIAL AND TEN MUGGLES KILLED.

"That's the second one this month," Remus said.

"They're getting more frequent," Peter said.

Sirius stared down at the ground.

"How many people have gone missing in the last year?" James asked, even though he didn't want the answer.

"Nearly twenty, I think," Remus said. "And it's only getting worse."

There was a long silence.

"I'm going to go up and finish the Charms assignment," James said, getting up and walking up to his dormitory.

* * *

The train rolled into King's Cross Station, and James smiled as he stepped onto the platform. Sirius and Peter came out after him, and they met up with Remus at the front of the train. "Merry Christmas, Evans," he said with a smile.

She looked mildly amused. "Merry Christmas, Potter."

"Mum! Dad!" he exclaimed upon seeing them, Sirius following close behind. They waved goodbye to Peter as he went with his mum and to Remus as he left with his father.

"Hello, boys," his mother said with a smile. "How's school going."

"Alright," said James. "N.E.W.T. level classes are more difficult."

"And he's devoting his energy to other pursuits," said Sirius.

"Sirius!"

"What does that mean?" his father asked, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing. Ignore Sirius."

"Well, let's get home then," said his mother.

* * *

When they got home, James and Sirius immediately started to head upstairs, but James stopped when he heard his father's voice drifting up from the living room. "Yes, it is concerning that he's been missing this long, but we're doing our best to find him. It seems unlikely that nefarious forces are at play."

"Does it really?" his mother asked. "There's always nefarious forces at play these days... attacks starting to happen more... we're going to be in an all-out war soon."

"We can hope not."

"We can hope all we like. And for the sake of the boys, I would love them to not grow up right into a war. But I fear it's coming..."

Sirius coughed, and they froze, waiting to hear if footsteps were coming. When they heard none, they quickly ran up the stairs.

"That can't be a good sign," said Sirius.

"No," said James, pacing back and forth. "It isn't. Mum and Dad know everything. If they're concerned..."

"We all should be."

"I don't want a war," said James.

"I doubt anyone _wants_ a war."

"But it doesn't look like we can avoid it."

"No, it really doesn't."

They stood in silence for a moment, which was broken by Euphemia Potter's voice. "Boys! Dinner!"


End file.
